February is a great month for celebrating history, with Presidents Day and Black History Month allowing us to remember so many great Americans. It is also a romantic month, with our American tradition of Valentine’s Day. For many of us, it is time to get over any holiday hangover we may have still had in January and back to the business of peacemaking and/or creating peacemakers.

Thanks to its many volunteers, SCMA has some great programming for its membership planned for February. We launch our new Webinar series for the Friday noon hour, and begin with former SCMA President Nikki Tolt on Friday, February 23rd with her presentation on “Building Your Mediation Skills and Practice”—practical tips for success. For new mediators in our field, or even if you have been mediating for a while and are looking for some extra tips on building a successful practice, this is the webinar for you. Online registration is now available at SCMA 2018 Webinar Series #1; make sure you do not miss this one!

In conjunction with our friends at the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) in San Diego, Board member Ana Sambold takes her highly successful panel on “Non-Traditional and Unexplored Career Paths” to San Diego for a presentation at the NCRC headquarters in San Diego on Saturday, February 24, at 10 a.m. Former SCMA President Jason Harper joins the panel, which is sure to point out a number of opportunities outside of traditional mediation that exist for those of you with conflict resolution skills. You may register for this panel presentation at SCMA/NCRC San Diego Program Registration.

Our community was stunned in January with the sudden passing of our former SCMA President, Joe Markowitz. Many of you highlighted what Joe meant to you in our listserv, and your comments were appreciated by all members of our community. I joined many other former SCMA Presidents and our President-elect, Angela Reddock-Wright, at a beautiful memorial service on January 28. At that service, many of us became acquainted with his family and friends, and part of Joe’s legacy is the joy and peace he brought to everyone with whom he interacted. Joe meant a lot to many of us, and his influence will continue to be felt in the mediation world. For my part, I remember Joe being at a number of the initial meetings of what is now the Mediation Certification Consortium of California (MC3), and talking about creating a “gold standard” for the field. Joe will be in our hearts and minds when we see you at USC Gould School of Law on February 10 to discuss why voluntary mediator certification would be beneficial to our field.

Joe’s legacy included “rolling up his sleeves” and volunteering his time and efforts to the betterment of our community. As I look at the myriad of volunteers who are helping SCMA and MC3, I am mindful of the fact that we could not accomplish anything without everyone pitching in. Thank you for your continued contributions, and I look forward to seeing all of you at one of our upcoming educational events or professional development groups.

Anne Sawyer is an independent Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Consultant. In addition her private consultation practice, she is the Executive Director of the Southern California Mediation Association.

Her mission is to foster, support and promote mediators and other neutrals and to further increase peaceful resolution of conflicts. Raising public awareness as to the many values of mediation and increase its use to address a broad variety of public and private disputes in a confidential, safe and empowering process is her passion.

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